History of Newleaf Island (prior to 1600)
This page documents the history of Newleaf Island prior to the year 1600. Prehistoric Newleaf Island The first record of anatomically modern Homo sapiens inhabiting Newleaf Island is around 25,000 years ago, from flint tools found scattered across the island. This is before the most recent glacial maximum, and it is thought that Newleaf Island was connected to the British Isles and thence mainland Europe at this stage. It is thought that the most recent so-called "ice age" caused all humans on Newleaf Island to flee to warmer climates across southern Europe. Humans did not return to the island until after the end of the ice age. Once humans returned to the island, it is thought that they formed several different tribes which lived in different areas of the island. There are records of organised settlements across the island and various inter-tribal conflicts throughout the years. After the arrival of the Romans, all tribes were watched over with suspicion. Following the tribal attack on Leodisi in AD 222, all tribes were declared to be barbarians and ordered to be wiped out or captured. The various island tribes continued to live alongside the Romans until no later than AD 240, when it is thought that Roman expansion on the island forced all tribespeople to evacuate to Great Britain. Roman Provincia Neronisterrae The Roman conquest of Great Britain began in AD 43. That same year, the first Roman exploration of Newleaf Island took place. Formal annexation of Newleaf Island into the Roman Empire came in AD 55, despite the lack of any Roman settlements on the island. Emperor Nero declared that the island would come under the control of a new province, named Provincia Neronisterrae (literally "Nero's land"). The first Roman town on the island, named Liodis, was founded in AD 60. The town quickly grew to become one of the largest and most influential in the western Roman Empire, reaching a maximum population of over 60,000. Continued growth came to an abrupt end, however, in AD 201 after a devastating fire which destroyed over 85% of the town. The fire caused residents to flee the town, indirectly causing the foundation of dozens of small Roman villages across Newleaf Island. This caused Roman territory on the island to naturally expand, causing increased conflict with local tribes. The town of Leodisi was founded in AD 204 amongst the ruins of Liodis. Most of the wreckage from the fire was cleared away and the town slowly rebuilt. Leodisi grew to become a fine trading port with a population of over 70,000, overtaking even the successes of Liodis. Leodisi was attacked by barbarian tribes in AD 222, and thousands of Roman soldiers were sent to reinforce the city. Over the next few years, Roman forces spread and conquered the entire island. Originally foreign tribes were held captive and used as cheap labour, but after several years they were provided with boats and allowed to evacuate the island of their own accord. The vast majority are believed to have drowned in storms; survivors would have likely come ashore in Cornwall, where they were slaughtered by local tribes. By AD 240, it is likely there were no remaining tribespeople on the island. Most Roman settlements on the island were abandoned between AD 250 and AD 300 as people migrated into the city of Leodisi in search of better living conditions. This caused massive overcrowding in the city, and an outbreak of disease - probably cholera - wiped out 40% of the city's population in AD 323. In response to cramped conditions and disease, a series of popular revolts took place in Leodisi, and control of the city was snatched by Roman usurpers on multiple occasions. Novaroma Following the Peppermint Revolt in AD 361, the Roman Empire ceded Provincia Neronisterrae and handed over control of the territory to local government officials, who founded a separate sovereign state named Novaroma ''(literally "New Rome"). However, the entire local Cabinet defected and fled to the mainland, placing the island under the control of a military junta. Most of the former Roman army personnel, including all of the high-ranking officials, fled to the mainland shortly after the departure of the Cabinet, causing the collapse of the military junta after only several months. With no clear cut government to take over from the junta, war broke out on the island, with up to a dozen different groups claiming control of Novaroma. War caused tens of thousands of residents to flee Novaroma, and the city of Leodisi was mostly destroyed. The conflict led to the deaths of further thousands of people, and the population of the entire island dropped below 5,000 by AD 450. Little record is available for the final years of the Novaroman Anarchy, but it is believed that an outbreak of disease and a bad winter forced a final end to hostilities and total abandonment of Newleaf Island by no later than AD 570. Anglo-Saxon "''Octarchy" Following the end of the Roman settlement of Newleaf Island, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic settlers from Great Britain arrived on the island. Each main group formed their own seperate kingdom on a certain area of the island. Between AD 550 and AD 970, a period known as the Octarchy, there were eight seperate kingdoms on Newleaf Island - the Kingdoms of Auchengate, Auchteborough, Cyneswith, Dinasham, Hoynes, Lewes, Porthing, and Strathgill. The Kingdoms of Hoynes (in modern-day Home) and Lewes (in modern-day Leeds) grew to become the two largest and most influential not only on the island, but also across western Europe. The influential nature of Hoynes and Lewes is usually seen by historians as providing the roots for the growing Homian and Leedsian nationalism during the 19th and 20th centuries. In the early 10th century, all eight kingdoms were largely at war with each other. In AD 970, the Kingdom of Porthing was entirely overrun and taken over by the Kingdom of Auchteborough, reducing the number of independent states on the island to seven and briefly making Auchteborough (modern-day Porttown area) the most influential of all the island kingdoms. In AD 990, after complex negotiations largely between Auchteborough, Hoynes and Lewes, all seven kingdoms were joined together to form one single kingdom - the Ynysoedd Kingdom. The Kingdom of Strathgill (modern-day Glendale) initially refused, and a brief civil war was fought on Strathgillian soil until AD 991, when all Strathgillian forces were defeated and the territory was officially annexed. Ynysoedd Kingdom Following the end of the Strathgillian conflict, the Ynysoedd Kingdom (roughly translated as "the Kingdom of the Isles") placed its sights on taking over areas of other landmasses with similar ethnicities - mainly the remaining Celtic territories. The Kingdom eventually expanded to cover areas of land within southern Wales, southern Ireland, western Cornwall and the entire Isles of Scilly. In 1096, the first recorded instance of the island being referred to as an ancestor of the term "Newleaf Island" takes place, when the island is described as "Ynys Neblef". The true meaning of the term "Neblef" has never been truly deciphered, but most historians believe it comes from the contemporary phase "neb lef", meaning "one voice" - probably referring to the island's unusually stable inter-tribal government of the time. Over the years, "Neblef" slowly transformed into the modern "Newleaf". The Kingdom's security was ruined in 1145, when an uprising amongst citizens took place in the Kingdom's territories in Cornwall, Ireland and the Isles of Scilly. Ynysoedd forces attempted to quash the uprisings, but increased resistance forced the Kingdom to evacuate from all three areas, ceding them back to local warlords. Ynysoedd forces were, however, still in control of southwest Wales. In 1189, a Dutch expeditionary force arrived on the south coast of Newleaf Island. It was unarmed, and despite attempting to state that they were not a threat, they were attacked and repelled by coastal Ynysoedd forces. They returned several weeks later with the firepower of the Dutch navy behind them. In fear of being attacked otherwise, the Kingdom agreed to let the Dutch explore the area. The expeditionary forces were escorted up the Leeds River by Ynysoedd riverboats. Dutch Neblef Dutch forces arrived near the present-day site of Raeburnfield and established a town they called Raburnfeld. After several years, Raburnfeld was declared the capital of the colony of Dutch Neblef, a name borrowed from the Ynysoedd Kingdom. Relations between the Dutch and the Ynysoeddians were initially good despite the 1189 offshore skirmish, but increased ambitions for expansion on the island from the Dutch caused relations to become strained. With tensions rising, the Ynysoedd Kingdom decided to abandon their Welsh territory in 1224 to focus on the protection of their core island territory. The town of Raburnfeld grew to a population of over 60,000, becoming the largest settlement on the island since Roman Leodisi. As a result of the Dutch expansion, border skirmishes became increasingly common between Holland and the Ynysoedd Kingdom. As part of a peace treaty in 1229, an area on the east bank of the Leeds River far to the south of Raburnfeld was ceded to Holland, who founded the town of Leedstad (modern day Leedstown) there in 1230. The Dutch put increasing pressure on the growth of Leedstad, as it was in a better location than Raburnfeld; in 1232, Leedstad was declared the capital of Dutch Neblef. However, in 1234, Irish naval forces arrived along the island's shores and rowed up the Leeds River unabated, where they attacked the city of Leedstad and later also Raburnfeld. The unprovoked attacks led to the seventy-day Hiberno–Dutch War of 1234. The Dutch were massively outnumbered and eventually crushed by the Irish, who took over the whole of Dutch Neblef. Initially termed "New Ireland", the territory was officially renamed to the Newleaf Territories in 1235; the same year, Raburnfeld and Leedstad were renamed to Raeburnfield and Leedstown respectively, in an effort to shed the Dutch memories. Ireland's Newleaf Territories The Ynysoedd Kingdom were vastly opposed to the Irish, deeming them to be untrustworthy. They declared an allegiance to the outgoing Dutch forces; however, the alliance was declined by Holland due to sour memories from the many small Ynysoedd–Holland skirmishes. The Kingdom declared war on Ireland on multiple occasions, only to come to peace several years later with the situation barely changed. By this point the Kingdom had a firmly established capital - the city of Cartref in modern-day Home - and a well-established military, meaning that they were a force to be reckoned with. With expansionist goals, the Kingdom launched an invasion attempt on the areas of south-west Wales formerly under their control in 1340. After occupying land there for three years, English forces repelled the Ynysoedd attack and forced them back to their homeland in 1343. A second invasion attempt, this time on the Isles of Scilly, was repelled in 1344, and no further attempts were made. With the entire Ynysoedd military returned to the island from these "expansionist wars", war was declared on the Newleaf Territories in 1406. In response, Ireland declared war on the Ynysoedd Kingdom, and the Kingdom declared war on Ireland themselves shortly afterward. War continued until 1430, with little territory changing hands yet massive losses on both sides. A temporary truce was signed that year, but war broke out again in 1434. This time the Ynysoedd Kingdom was more prepared, and within several weeks had taken over the entire territory under the control of the Newleaf Territories, including Leedstown and Raeburnfield. The Ynysoedd Kingdom had control of the whole of what they now called Newleaf Island for the first time since 1189, however things did not stay rosy for long. In 1440, there was widespread disagreement with the policies of Alfred I, who had taken to the Ynysoeddian throne in 1438. An attack on the Ceilidh Palace by rebels in May 1440 directly resulted in civil war being declared the following month. Thousands of people were killed in six years of civil war between the Kingdom and the alliance of rebels, fighting under the banner of the Newleaf Republic, which claimed the whole island. In 1446 the monarchy was mostly killed and later overthrown completely, resulting in rapid gains in territory by the Republic; remaining members of the royal family fled into exile in London, and within six weeks the entire island was under the control of the Republic. Newleaf Republic The Republic was officially declared on 1 January 1447, days after the fall of Leedstown. The monarchy in exile of the former Ynysoedd Kingdom still pressed their claim to the island, but public sentiment on the island was by now mostly pro-Republic.